Hey all, so I just recently got a 2.5 gal tank for my sisters betta that I get to take care of . I'd really like to get some sort of lighting for it. Right now I have it sitting on a somewhat dark shelf, and not a lot of light is making it into the tank. I've got about 5 inches above the lid to the next shelf to put some sort of fixture. I don't know if I should go LED or if they make fluorescent fixtures that small (again 2.5 gal tank, roughly 10 inches long I'm guessing). If anyone can recommend any particular lights I'd really appreciate it.

Okay I have done a lot of searching on this topic and I only ever found 2 ways to get a flourescent over a 2.5g

a) Use a fluorescent desk lamp.
b) Purchase a Coralife Aqualight Mini and mount it with those legs. You will have to cover the tank though with a glass/mesh lid.

I personally have had decent results with the mini, they are 18w so good for medim or low light plants. A lot of devoted nano tankers are fans of the Hampton Bay 27w Desk Lamp but man that has a lot of wattage for a dark-water loving fish like bettas.

Hey Kelly,
I suppose I don't have to have a fluorescent fixture. I may end up going with LED. You've got the Coralife Aqualight Mini and it grows plants well? Thats some serious lighting for a 2.5g (what I've got). Also the kelvin rating ( I guess thats what its call) its pretty high for most plants from what I thought. I saw that light had 10000k and I believed that plants wanted about 6500k (around what sunlight is). It looks like they're marketing it for saltwater and mini reef aquariums. However....lighting is lighting as long as it serves your purpose. I did smile at the thought of planting that small of an aquarium.

The difference is this. The WPG rule actually breaks down in tanks under about 10g. You need exponentially more wattage to even grow low-light plants. Take my 5.5g. It has 18w, which would make it just over 3WPG. Well, even my Val and Bacopa didn't survive in there... I would rate the actual effect closer to <1 WPG. Even in my 2.5g tank I am only attempting low light plants. Nano tankers who want to bringout the big guns go with the 27W Hampton Bay over a 2.5!!!

To add though that is the only fixture (fluorescent or otherwise) I have seen for a 2.5g, other than the obvious clip-on or desk lamp.

Wow thats really interesting, I didn't know that. I wonder what exactly causes that. Does it work the same way in reverse? A large tank say 200g could use oh 125 watts of lighting? Hmm. I guess I need to do a bit more looking and see exactly what I want to do.